Elderly villager detained for questioning gov’t coup narrative

Murat Gülen, a 60-year-old villager and a relative of Fethullah Gülen, was detained after he was revealed to have questioned the government’s narrative of a July 15, 2016 coup attempt during a video interview by the pro-government Ihlas News Agency.

On Thursday Ihlas published the recording, filmed in Fethullah Gülen’s hometown of Korucuk village, and media reported the same day that Gülen was taken into police custody for questioning.

The Turkish government accuses the Gülen movement of masterminding the failed coup, while the movement denies any involvement. More than 130,000 people have been held custody thus far, and some 50,000 of them were put in pretrial detention over Gülen ties.

Evidence of Gülen links includes depositing money into the movement-affiliated, now-defunct Bank Asya, as mentioned by the villager during the interview.

Many were earlier targeted for raising questions over the government narrative.
(Turkey Purge)